Daycare

Question 1

AO1/Description

Answer 1

Day care can consist of other family members looking after the child, sending the child to a child minders or sending them to a nursery.

There are rules and regulations enforced by ofsted about how daycares should be run, facilities, staff levels and training etc

Question 2

Good quality daycare by Campbell (2000)

Answer 2

• A low adult to child ratio to ensure that each child gets plenty of attention and stimulation- & substitute care
• A small-sized group; small groups are easier for young children to mix in as there are fewer strangers,
• Mixed age groups – like in families – children are able to observe ‘modelled’ behaviours,
• Low staff turnover – this prevents feelings of insecurity when adults leave & build relationships
• Well-trained staff who appreciate attachment theory, substitute care and provide stimulating environments for children
• Ideally the child should also experience:
• stable attachment figure – a key worker is a good way to achieve this; the worker should be responsive and warm to the child.
• A structured day – routines help the child to feel that their environment is predictable as this is part of feeling safe, unstimulating environments led to lower intelligence due to lower levels of attention

Question 3

AO3 Li-

Answer 3

Children in high quality daycare improved their academic abilities, memory abilities and language abilities

Question 4

AO3 Andersson (1992)

Answer 4

found that children who went to high quality day care before the age of one were more socially and cognitively advanced by the age of 8.

Question 5

AO3 The EPPE (2004)

Answer 5

project also found that children in high quality day care benefitted cognitively and socially.

Question 6

AO3 Shea (1981)

Answer 6

Children became more sociable the longer they were at nursery. The amount of aggressive behaviour towards one another decreased.

Question 7

AO3 Belsky & Rovine (1988)

Answer 7

found that children who were put into day care for 20 hours a week, before they were one, had an insecure avoidant attachment with their mother, and those over 35 hours a week also had an insecure attachment with their fathers.

Question 8

AO3 NICHD study

Answer 8

found that day care can lead to the children having behavioural problems, especially if the day care was of low quality.

found that children who’s mothers lacked responsiveness (and therefore may be insecurely attached) did less well at day care

Question 9

AO3 Clarke-Stewart (1994)

Answer 9

Children who had attended nurseries could cope better in social situations, and were able to interact better with peers, compared with children previously looked after in family settings

Question 10

AO3 DiLalla (1988)

Answer 10

found a negative correlation between the amount of time spent in day care and pro-social behaviour: children who spent more time in day care were less cooperative and helpful in their dealings with other children

Question 11

AO3 Vandell (1990) –

Answer 11

extensive child care since infancy is associated with poorer academic & conduct report cards, as well as being rated as having poorer peer relationships & emotional health.

Question 12

AO3 Belsky and Rovine (1988)

Answer 12

More full-time care infants were classified as insecure (47%) than those with little or no daycare altogether (25%). Those with low part-time care showed 21% insecure attachments (and 35% for high part-time care)

Question 13

AO3

Answer 13

Children with poor cognitive ability were found to gain most in the long-term from daycare and the earlier they started the better